Railway-gate.



J. DEARINGER.

RAILWAY GATE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 6, 1911.

Patented June 4, 1918/ 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- INVENTOR WITNESSES ATToRN EY J. DEARINGER.

RAILWAY GATE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB-6.1917.v

Patented lane 4, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR WITNESSES wimflmm'izgwj ATTORNEY some Demons, or vnnsnunns, mnraira. narnwar-oara.

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Specification of Letters Patent;

Application filed February 8, 1917. Serial No. 148,954.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jorm Dreamers, a citizen of the United States, residin at Versailles, in the county of Ripley and tate of Indiana, have invented new and useful Improvements in Railway-Gates, of which the following is a s ecification.

This invention re ates to a railway gate, and more especially to the setting apparatus therefor; and the object of the same is to provide the gate mechanism at the point where a highway crosses a railroad, with means for setting it automatically on the ap roach of a train by dropping the gate and lig ting a bulb, and then restoring the parts automatically when the train passes on.

A further object is to provide means whereby when the train stands for some time adjacent the highway so that ordinarily the gate would be automatically closed to the passage of traflic, the engineer can manually open it until he is ready to move on.

Details are set forth in the following speci fication and claim, reference being had to the drawings, wherein:-

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a section of railroad, showing a locomotive as approach ing a highway ate and illustrating the latter as closed and the signal set.

Fig.2 is a plan view of the same, omitting the locomotive,

Fig. 3 is a diagram showin the wirin Figs. 4 and 5 are side and ront elevations of the circuit closer.

I have used the letter R to designate the rails which are mounted on ties T as usual, and F is a fence alongside of the road and interrupted for the passa e of the highway which crosses the track. he letter G designates a swinging gate such'as is commonly used at crossin S is the signal which is ordinarily a re electric light, and L is the locomotive of an approaching train, or it might be the motor car of an electric train.

B is a source of electric energy, and I prefer to employ a wet battery composed of several cells. One such battery will be used for each gate, and it is suitably mounted within a casing adjacent to or carried b the post which supports the gate and signal. No novelt is c aimed for the parts thus far describe @oming now to the details of the invention,

the numerals 1,. 2 designate ramp rails mounted on and insulate from the ties T as at 3, spaced suflicientlygrom each other to prevent their being thro n into electrical connection by a horse-shoe or the metal tire of'a wheel, and extending between the rails R, R across the highway and for a suitable distance along the same to either side of the gate. Movably mounted on the locomotive L is a circuit closer best seen in Figs. 4 and 5. This may well consist of a metal roller 4 pivoted in a yoke 5 at the lower end of a lever 6 whose upper end is pivoted as at 7 beneath the forward truck, the lever being borne downward by the force of a spring 8. Said lever preferably carries at its lower end and just in front of the yoke a shoe or plow 9 so shaped and disposed that it travels on the ramp rails 1, 2 in advance of the roller, and removes from them snow and ice and obstructions or accumulations which might prevent the roller from making good metallic contact with said rails for a purpose yet to appear.

Any suitable means may be provided for throwing this circuit closer out of action at the will of the engineer; but as best shown in Fig. 4 I employ a hand-lever 10 mounted within the locomotive cab or adjacent the engineer or motor man, connected by a link 11 with the lever 6, and moving alongside a toothed sector 12 whereby the lever 10 may be locked in proper position by manipulating its thumb latch 13 as shown. When the hand-lever is thrown forward, the roller 4: is borne into contact with the ramp rails as seen in Figs. 1 and l, and in the forward progress of the locomotive the plow 9 precedes the roller and clears said rails of foreign matter so that the roller can make good electrical contact with both of them under the impulse of its spring 8. Said rails are of such length that the roller strikes them while the locomotive is yet some distance from the highway, so that the circuit is closed and the signal and gate are set in time to give an approaching pedestrian or driver ample notice that he should await the passage of the train before crossing the railway.

The gate G is pivoted as at 20 to a post 21 alongside the highway, and nearly counterbalanced as at 22 so that it turns easily Patented June 4, rate.

a; panacea on its pivot from its closed or horizontal position as seen in full lines in F1g. 1 to ts open or oblique position as indicated 1n dotted lines therein; and b preference I make the weight 22 a little lighter than the gate or so adjust it that the gate will close automatically. Near its pivot I provide the gate with an armature 23 standing lIl'POSltion to be attracted by an electromagnet 24 which is diagrammatically shown in Fig. 1 as supported by a bracket 25 on the post 21. The wiring of this magnet is seen 1n Fig. 3. Beginning at the battery B, the w1re 26 leads to a point 2 on the ramp ra1l 2, thence as at 27 to one side of the magnet 24, thence on as at 28 to a point 1 on the ram rail 1, and thence on as at 29 back to the attery. It will now be clear that when the ramp rails are not in electrical connection with each other, the current flows constantly from the battery through the electromagnet, and the latter attracts the armature and holds the gate G raised and therefore open. As soon as the circuit closing roller 4 strikes the two ramp rails at any point, it in eflect' closes the circuit between the points 1 and 2' and short circuits the wires 27 and 28 and the electromagnet, so that the latter loses its power to attract, and the gate falls to closed position. The armature 23 is therefore not attracted by the magnet 24 so long as the roller stands on the ramp rails. As above stated, these will extend to a considerable distance on both sides of the highway.

Assuming now that a train approaches such highway and comes to a stop with its locomotive standing about as seen in Fig. 1, either on the main line or a siding; and suppose also that it is a freight tram which is to stand there some time, and the engineer does not want to have the highway interrupted by the useless and constant closure of the gate G. He has but to throw the hand-lever 10 so as to raise the circuit closer oil the ramp rails, when current from the battery immediately flows through the mag net, and the ate G is raised. When the engineer is rea y to move on he again sets the circuit closer in contact with the ramp rails, and the gate G automatically closes. As soon as he has proceeded on his way far enough for the roller to pass from the ends of the ramp rails (by which time quite a long train will have passed across the high way) the circuit closer is thrown out of action automatically and current again flows through the battery so that the gate is opened for the resumption of traflic as usual. It is quite customary to provide these crossings with visual signals, and especially lamps by which they are illuminated after dark, and I propose to employ current generated by the battery B for illuminating the slgnal S, which latter is shown as carried by the post 21 although of course its location is not a matter of importance to m invention. As seen in Fig. 3, a wire 31 lea s from battery B to the lamp or signal S; and from the latter another wire 32 leads to a contact 33 which may well be mounted on the post 21. Another contact 34, in the shape of a finger carried by the gate, is adapted to touch said contact 33 when the gate is closed, and from the pivot 20 of the gate a wire 35 leads back to the other side of the battery B. Thus it will be seen that the finger 34 on the gate serves as a circuit closer for the signal circuit, and the signal S is illuminated automatically by the closing of the gate, whereas it is extinguished automatically as soon as the gate begins to rise from or leave its closed position. Of course it might be possible to amplify the single signal here shown into a number of signals, at this side of the railroad or at both sides, but the drawings herewith are to a degree diagrammatic for the urpose of more clearly illustrating the mvention without unnecessary complication. Also it is quite possible, to substitute an audible signal for a visual signal, especially in the day time, or perhaps 1n some cases to use both. These details of the signal mechanism are unimportant, as in fact are the details of the gate mechanism, and I reserve the broadest latitude in these respects.

Thus it will be seen that T have produced a signal including the gate and in the present case the lamp and ossibly also the bell or other audible si all which signal normally stands at set condition. In the illustration herewith, the gate has descended across the highway and the lamp is automatically lighted. Means are provided for changing this signal from its set condition to clear condition, as to both the gate and the lamp, as the rising of the former breaks the circuit to the latter in the illustration given. Such change of the entire signal from its set to its clear position is brought about electrically, and should the electricity fail or the circuit become broken the gate will return to its normal position and the signal will remain set until repairs are made.- lln other words, I depend upon electrical mechanism for moving the parts to an abnormal position, and safeguard the pedestrian or driver on the highway in case the electrical mechanism gets out of order. This is one of the important features of the present invention, and it will be clear that it is carried out whether the signal as a whole includes both the gate and the lamp,

or has only the gate, which latter standing across the highway constitutes a visual sig nal by itself in the daytime and might carry an oil lantern in the night time.

What is claimed as new is In a railway crossing gate, the combinat1on with a gate standing normally we? ltd ,Aeeaeee an armature thereon, an electre-magnet adfor bridging the ramp rails and sheet-cirjacent the armature, a battery, and a circuit cuitin the magnet, means holding said cirfrom the battery to the magnet; of spaced cuit e oser normally in position to contact 10 ramp rails along the track respectively conwith the ramp rails, and means on the train 5 nected with the wires of said circuit at points for raising the circuit closer at will.

between the battery and the. .ma et, a cir- In testimony whereof I a my siature.

cuit closer adapted to be'mounte on a train JOHN DEARIN ER. 

